Dog bit my daughter's face - advice please

Taadaa

Person_one wrote: »

Just to add, dogs don't feel jealousy. They can get protective and start trying to 'guard' their owners if they are stressed out though, and if they aren't used to small children then the noises they make and the way they move (very different to adults!) can make them very anxious and tense.

Ok that's interesting thanks. I understand the dog might have been stressed by it but what might have happened had been playing on our minds a lot :eek: on the other hand my sister loves the dog and l wouldn't want l her to have to part with it.

chucknorris

Taadaa wrote: »

Really? I'm not happy to risk an incident, but rather than say 'we are never going to visit you again' l'm trying to find a reasonable solution by sounding out people that know more about dogs than l do.

I've deleted my post because I don't want to end up arguing with people over hypothetical situations when in fact, my dog is a super calm and a very child friendly dog, and I wouldn't end up being involved in a situation like the one you described. Although once a mother accused my dog of attacking her daughter, but she was immediately shot down by all her friends (about 5 of them), they all said he came up wagging his tail and licked her hand, but she screamed and ran away. Heaven knows what might have happened if there were no witnesses, I usually put him on the lead near people, but this was in the woods, where we were both out on a run.

Taadaa

Person_one wrote: »

Don't be tempted to get drawn in by other people's hysteria, you are reacting to this very sensibly.

Of course you aren't going to stop seeing close family members, but you are going to take steps this never happens again. Either a crate or a muzzle is enough to render the dog safe, you don't need them to do both, I'd suggest the crate is probably the better option for now, it fully removes the dog to a place of safety so you can relax and if they do the training properly the dog will feel comfortable and secure in there too so won't get worked up.

Don't dismiss the possibility that the dog was reacting to something your daughter did that spooked it though. You didn't see what happened after all, and its not a way to 'blame' the child, and it doesn't mean the child did anything maliciously, its just a fact that children need to be taught how to behave around dogs and dogs need to be taught how to behave around children. Neither are born knowing how to cope with each other in their space!

I hope your daughter is recovering and feeling ok.

I haven't dismissed it, l just wasn't convinced by the explanation from the only person that saw it, as it was given several minutes after and seemed a bit odd. Thank you that's made me feel a bit better. She is ok it's not hurting her, she saw herself in a mirror and said 'hey what's happened to my face?!' so she doesn't seem traumatised by it.

Person_one

Taadaa wrote: »

Ok that's interesting thanks. I understand the dog might have been stressed by it but what might have happened had been playing on our minds a lot :eek: on the other hand my sister loves the dog and l wouldn't want l her to have to part with it.

Dogs have something called 'bite inhibition' that they learn as puppies when they're still with their mother and siblings. Its the ability to control the depth and strength of a snap or bite. They learn this because its actually really important for animals to avoid fights and aggression as its dangerous for them.

Its incredibly incredibly rare for a normal, good-natured family pet to go into a full on attack, the dogs that do that are usually trained to be aggressive or are very neglected. This dog will have controlled its bite to what it perceives as a 'warning', but sadly that's still quite a bad injury on a 4 year old human's skin. That does not mean its acceptable of course, its very very important that it never happens again, but the chances of anything worse happening were incredibly slim so please don't dwell on that.

What's important is what you do from here. Have you had a calm conversation with your sister about how you're going to manage the situation? If not, do that soon, she'll be torn at the moment and probably not sleeping because she'll feel absolutely terrible about what's happened to her niece but also terrified for what might happen to her dog that she loves as a result.

Taadaa

Yes we have spoken about it and she's very concerned and upset. She thinks the dog might not be quite right as my mum's cat attacked it (the day after this happened) and it just sat there, didn't react at all. She's taking it to the vet to get a check up. I haven't raised the issue of shutting dog away yet, however l will as this had to happen until we can be sure it was a one off.

Edited by attack l mean claws in the nose you know cats are like

ripplyuk

Dogs and young children are a disaster waiting to happen.

Dogs find the body language of children very problematic, and young kids have little understanding of what dogs find acceptable. They should always be supervised together. By supervised, I mean an adult within an arm's length, not nearby on the sofa etc. Also, not an adult who thinks the dog should put up with whatever the child does to it, yanking ears and so on.

Has this dog attacked/bitten other people, or shown aggression with its owners? I'm guessing not or you wouldn't have let your child near it.

I certainly wouldn't take your daughter back anywhere near this dog. She might be frightened every time she sees it, and it won't do the dog any good either. Teach your child how to behave around dogs, and find some other friendly ones for her to pet (supervised) so that she doesn't develop any sort of fear from this incident.

Person_one

Taadaa wrote: »

Yes we have spoken about it and she's very concerned upset. She thinks the dog might not be quite right as my mum's cat attacked it (the day after this happened) and it just sat there, didn't react at all. She's taking it to the vet to get a check up. I haven't raised the issue of shutting dog away yet, however l will as this had to happen until we can be sure it was a one off.

Edited by attack l mean claws in the nose you know cats are like

That's good, always a sensible idea to get a vet check if an animal acts 'out of character'.

Taadaa

ripplyuk wrote: »

Dogs and young children are a disaster waiting to happen.

Dogs find the body language of children very problematic, and young kids have little understanding of what dogs find acceptable. They should always be supervised together. By supervised, I mean an adult within an arm's length, not nearby on the sofa etc. Also, not an adult who thinks the dog should put up with whatever the child does to it, yanking ears and so on.

Has this dog attacked/bitten other people, or shown aggression with its owners? I'm guessing not or you wouldn't have let your child near it.

I certainly wouldn't take your daughter back anywhere near this dog. She might be frightened every time she sees it, and it won't do the dog any good either. Teach your child how to behave around dogs, and find some other friendly ones for her to pet (supervised) so that she doesn't develop any sort of fear from this incident.

There was an adult next to the dog, the dog was sitting on the sofa. They didn't react quickly enough although it was a split second, we didn't hear the dog. DD came over to her dad crying saying 'the dog' and l could see the mark coming up on her face. No the dog is excited when people arrive but not aggressive.

elsien

I have an exciteable hard mouthed bull terrier. My dog is not aggressive.

However it is very likely that he would get stupidly excited by a child approaching him, especially one that leaned over him or went to touch him, when he may either throw his head up hard or jump up and play bite. Either of these could potentially be enough to bruise, break the skin and possibly draw blood.

For this reason when children visit, he is on a short lead, or in another room, or if the children are too young to understand not to approach him without my permission, he is in his crate. When I have visitors to stay overnight who either have young children, or are not dog savvy and are worried by him, he goes into kennels. I would prefer other ways of managing a situation than muzzling because a muzzle can make a nervous dog more worried and in that situation I think it's unfair on them and they are better off out of the way.

Your family are being sensible by having the dog checked out, but don't expect spaying to calm down an exciteable dog, or remove behavioural issues such as aggression.

I do not think you are being unrealistic to expect the dog and your child not to be together. It is not fair on either of them to place them in a situation where this could happen again, and as responsible dog owners, your family should understand this.

Taadaa

Thank you all for your input.